Labertino de Pasiones, 1982
(Labyrinth of Passions)

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Writer and Director: Pedro Almodovar

Other Actors: Cecilia Roth, Imanol Arias

This wacky ensemble film about the Madrid scene of the early 80s is Antonio's first. In a small role he plays a homosexual Islamic terrorist with an acute sense of smell. For Antonio Banderas fans the only real importance of this film is that it is the first of many with director Pedro Almodovar -- a collaboration which would eventually bring world-wide recognition to both.

Almodovar first saw Antonio when he was with the National Theater of Spain in Madrid. During a backstage visit Almodovar told him: "You have one very romantic face. Your face would be fantastic for the cinema. Have you made movies?" Antonio responded that no, he hadn't, and that ended their first encounter.

Antonio remembers Pedro Almodovar as a "wild, dirty, underground director with a reputation for breaking all the rules."

After Almodovar saw Antonio on stage a second time, "I had him do a screen test and I suddenly understood that Antonio would be a film star. It was his first time before a camera and it was evident that he was born for this."

Antonio accepted the role in Labertino de Pasiones when Pedro offered it. Antonio says,"I thought, this guy is either crazy, or a genius. Luckily for both of us, he was both."

Related Information

For this movie it is Almodovar who baptizes the young José Antonio Dominguez Bandera artistically as Antonio Banderas. "Pedro," Antonio recalls, "didn't like José Dominguez because it sounded like the name of a bullfighter. He added an 's' to the end of my second surname."

During filming of the movie on the streets of Madrid, Antonio and other actors were arrested as they rehearsed the film. The police had decided that they were a suspicious-looking lot and Antonio's indentification card was invalid. They spent four hours in jail while police checked Antonio's claim that his father was a police commissioner. When that proved to be true they were released.

Antonio was required to kiss a man on the mouth for the first time in this film -- which greatly concerned him. After much teasing by the film crew and a lot of encouragement by the recipient actor (and good friend) Imanol Arias, he summoned the courage to do it.